Change cursor shape in different modes
To change the shape of the cursor in different modes, you can add the following into your vimrc: For Terminal on macOS "Mode Settings let &t_SI.="\eq" "SI = INSERT mode let &t_SR.="\e[4 q" "SR = REPLACE mode let &t_EI.="\e[1 q" "EI = NORMAL mode (ELSE) "Cursor settings: " 1 -> blinking block " 2 -> solid block " 3 -> blinking underscore " 4 -> solid underscore " 5 -> blinking vertical bar " 6 -> solid vertical bar For iTerm2 on OS X let &t_SI = "\50;CursorShape=1\x7" let &t_SR = "\]50;CursorShape=2\x7" let &t_EI = "\]50;CursorShape=0\x7" For tmux running in iTerm2 on OS X let &t_SI = "\Ptmux;\\]50;CursorShape=1\x7\\\" let &t_SR = "\Ptmux;\\]50;CursorShape=2\x7\\\" let &t_EI = "\Ptmux;\\]50;CursorShape=0\x7\\\" In theory, the escape sequence could be used for tmux in any terminal. NOTE: These do not work with the default terminal. For Konsole in KDE4 let &t_SI = "\]50;CursorShape=1\x7" let &t_SR = "\]50;CursorShape=2\x7" let &t_EI = "\]50;CursorShape=0\x7" This works with multiple tabs and windows. For VTE compatible terminals (urxvt, st, xterm, gnome-terminal 3.x, Konsole KDE5 and others) let &t_SI = "\q" let &t_SR = "\[4 q" let &t_EI = "\[2 q" Set IBeam shape in insert mode, underline shape in replace mode and block shape in normal mode. For the Gnome-Terminal (version 2.26) This makes your cursor change in all open terminals. Upgrade your terminal and use the version above instead. if has("autocmd") au InsertEnter * silent execute "!gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_shape ibeam" au InsertLeave * silent execute "!gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_shape block" au VimLeave * silent execute "!gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_shape ibeam" endif For the Gnome-Terminal (version 3.x) First make a script gnome-terminal-cursor-shape.sh #!/bin/sh DEFAULTPROF=`dconf read /org/gnome/terminal/legacy/profiles:/default` DEFAULTPROF=`echo "$DEFAULTPROF" | sed -e "s/^'/:/" -e "s/'$//"` dconf write /org/gnome/terminal/legacy/profiles:/$DEFAULTPROF/cursor-shape "'$1'" Make it executable & put it in /usr/local/bin Next, add this to .vimrc if has("autocmd") au InsertEnter * \ if v:insertmode 'i' | \ silent execute "!gnome-terminal-cursor-shape.sh ibeam" | \ elseif v:insertmode 'r' | \ silent execute "!gnome-terminal-cursor-shape.sh underline" | \ endif au InsertLeave * silent execute "!gnome-terminal-cursor-shape.sh block" au VimLeave * silent execute "!gnome-terminal-cursor-shape.sh block" endif If you use more than one profile in gnome-terminal, you might have to adapt this to your profiles. For the Gnome-Terminal (version ≥3.16) This method has the advantage compared to the method above that it influences the given tab only, and not all the tabs that use the given profile. Add the following into .vimrc if has("autocmd") au VimEnter,InsertLeave * silent execute '!echo -ne "\e[2 q"' | redraw! au InsertEnter,InsertChange * \ if v:insertmode 'i' | \ silent execute '!echo -ne "\e[6 q"' | redraw! | \ elseif v:insertmode 'r' | \ silent execute '!echo -ne "\e[4 q"' | redraw! | \ endif au VimLeave * silent execute '!echo -ne "\e[ q"' | redraw! endif Above snippet disables cursor blinking. If you want cursor blink, just decrement all the 3 numbers above 2,4,6 by one each. if has("autocmd") au VimEnter,InsertLeave * silent execute '!echo -ne "\e[1 q"' | redraw! au InsertEnter,InsertChange * \ if v:insertmode 'i' | \ silent execute '!echo -ne "\e[5 q"' | redraw! | \ elseif v:insertmode 'r' | \ silent execute '!echo -ne "\e[3 q"' | redraw! | \ endif au VimLeave * silent execute '!echo -ne "\e[ q"' | redraw! endif For xfce-terminal if has("autocmd") au InsertEnter * silent execute "!sed -i.bak -e 's/TERMINAL_CURSOR_SHAPE_BLOCK/TERMINAL_CURSOR_SHAPE_UNDERLINE/' ~/.config/xfce4/terminal/terminalrc" au InsertLeave * silent execute "!sed -i.bak -e 's/TERMINAL_CURSOR_SHAPE_UNDERLINE/TERMINAL_CURSOR_SHAPE_BLOCK/' ~/.config/xfce4/terminal/terminalrc" au VimLeave * silent execute "!sed -i.bak -e 's/TERMINAL_CURSOR_SHAPE_UNDERLINE/TERMINAL_CURSOR_SHAPE_BLOCK/' ~/.config/xfce4/terminal/terminalrc" endif See also *[[Configuring the cursor] Comments VTE compatible terminals includes mate-terminal 1.18.1. In a vim_use thread on 31 March 2009, Matt Wozniski made the following comments: Re the Gnome code: Unless I'm misunderstanding something, this would not only work improperly when combined with tools like screen and dvtm, but also, when you have multiple terminals open, it would change the cursor shape in all of them! Re the KDE4 code: That won't play nicely with gnu screen, or with dvtm, or any of the other terminal multiplexers out there. Both will probably have problems with multiple tabs. ---- In konsole 18.12.3 the above "KDE4" code works AFAICT. In multiple konsole tabs, Vim in one tab has no influence on Vim in another tab, which is correct. In multiple Vim tabs, cursor shape changes for all tabs, which agrees with the --INSERT--, --REPLACE-- or empty label in the command-line area. (FWIW I don't use any of those terminal multiplexers.) Tonymec (talk) 22:40, May 28, 2019 (UTC)